Glacier



Printer Friendly Email Article Discuss Article


Eileen Kelley , Denver Post (Colorado)



http://www.denverpost.com/cda/article/print/0,1674,36%7E53%7E2585336,00.html

Fort Carson halts access for The Post

The base is refusing to give the paper information because of a Sunday
front-page article on military medical holds.

By Eileen Kelley
Special to The Denver Post
Thursday, December 09, 2004 -

Fort Carson -The Army is denying The Denver Post access to Fort Carson and
to information on military activities in the wake of a Sunday article in The
Post on military medical holds.

To view the original Denver Post article, please go to this link:

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2508

"We have temporarily suspended relations with The Denver Post as a direct
result of Fort Carson not being given fair and balanced treatment in a story
that appeared on Dec. 5, 2004," Lt. Col. David Johnson, the chief public affairs
officer at the base, said Wednesday evening.

The front-page article examined claims from mentally and physically ill
National Guard and Army Reserve members who say they are being denied access to
quality care and are being shoved out of the military without disability pay.
Congress has been scrutinizing medical holds at bases across the country.

"All of those involved with the med-hold piece which ran yesterday are
extremely disappointed with the outcome," Kim Tisor, a Fort Carson public
affairs officer, wrote in a letter to reporters Monday. "Perhaps we would have
been better off not commenting - it certainly would have saved us a lot of
time."

Denver Post Editor Greg Moore said the base's public affairs staff was
misguided in their actions.

"They are singling us out simply because they didn't like our story," he
said. "Other newspapers and media organizations have reported on the issue. Our
story was thorough, and balanced the concerns of soldiers with substantial
response from the military, including from some officers who acknowledged
problems with the program.

"It's our job to investigate issues like these and explain them to our
readers, many of whom have family members serving in the military," Moore added.
"We hope Fort Carson officials reconsider their ban of The Denver Post. If they
don't, we will appeal to senior military officers at Fort Carson and in
Washington, and through any other legal or congressional channels that are
available to us."

Any commander has the authority to control access to his installation or
unit, but a specific news organization can be banned from a base only in
accordance with an Army regulation that provides for due process, according to a
senior Army official who asked not to be named for fear of retribution.

Johnson said the paper has been dropped from an e-mail list that
distributes invitations to cover events and official statements.

A Post reporter was told Tuesday she could not attend a formal deployment
ceremony Wednesday even though other media members were invited.

Johnson said the lack of access is not an official ban, but he later said
that all Denver Post reporters and editors were - for the time being - no longer
welcome at Fort Carson.

Also last week, The Denver Post obtained an injunction to stop an
investigative hearing that had been closed to the public for three Fort Carson
soldiers charged with murdering an Iraqi general.



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]